Stoppers for tubes having screwthreaded necks



Feb. 21, 1967 BARANNE 3,305,127

STOPPERS FOR TUBES HAVING SCREW-THREADED NECKS Filed March 23, 1964 INVENTOR DAN/EL BARR NNE y MZJM ATTORNEYS 3,305,127 STOPPERS FOR TUBES HAVING SCREW- THREADED NECKS Daniel Baranne, 3 Ave. de la Princesse Mathilde, St.-Gratien, France Filed Mar. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 354,046

Claims priority, application France, Apr. 9, 1963,

930,847 Claims. (Cl. 22039) The present invention relates to a stopper which cannot be lost, with an obturator device for tubes or other receptacles provided with a screw threaded neck, and preferably for tubes, which can be flattened.

This stopper is composed substantially of three pieces moulded of a comparatively flexible synthetic plastic material comprising a tubular body with an enlarged upper portion and a cylindrical skirt, which is designed to engage into the neck of the tube and ends at its base in a portion protruding towards the interior and having longitudinal slots, an inner cylindrical tube with closed top and lateral openings designed to engage into said skirt and to discharge towards the outside of the slotted end of said skirt, and an obturator cap, which is screwed on said neck and has a top with a central hole which top bears on the body in the closure position, while the closed top of the inner tube fits closely into said cen tral hole. Expansion of the slotted base of the skirt below the neck of the tube assures the fixation of the body of the stopper on the tube to be plugged and the cap abuts at its base an annular shoulder protruding towards the interior below the screw thread of the neck, in order to prevent the lifting off of this cap, which by being screwed on and unscrewed can move between an opening position and a closure position, sliding in a tight manner on the enlarged upper portion of the stopper.

Hereinafter an embodiment of the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section showing an assembly of the stopper mounted on a tube and illustrated in the open position.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal partial section of the body of the stopper into which the lower portion of the inner tube has been incompletely inserted.

FIG. 3 is a diametrical section of a safety cap.

In FIG. 1, the screw-threaded tube, for example a metal tube of the type which can be flattened, is indicated at 1, and comprises a neck 2 with external screw thread. At 3 the upper end face of the neck which forms the outlet orifice of the tube 1 and at 4 the lower end of the neck are indicated. The external screw thread extends upwardly up to the upper end face 3, but ends a certain distance above the base of the neck, which has a slightly recessed cylindrical surface 5 below the screw thread.

The stopper according to the invention comprises a tubular body 6, which is composed of an enlarged upper portion 7 designed to abut the upper end face 3 of the neck 2, and of a skirt 8 designed to engage into the interior of the neck 2.

Below the lower end 4 of the neck the inner surface of the skirt 8 ends in a truncated cone 9, and this skirt 8 has slots 10 parallel to its axis, which start from its base, extend up to the level of the lower end 4 of the neck and are of a height, which may slightly exceed that of the truncated cone 9. The inner surface of the enlarged portion 7 carries bosses 11 slightly above the bottom of said portion 7.

The stopper comprises also an inner tubular member United States Patent 0 interior of the body 6 of the stopper and of its skirt 8. It carries a small collar 14 designed to abut the bottom of the portion 7 below the bosses 11, and above said collar 14 its side wall shows openings 15 for the discharge of the substance contained in the tube. The length of the inner tubular member 12 below its collar 14 exceeds the length of the skirt 8 in such a manner that in the position for use (FIG. 1) its wall has pushed out radially outward the slotted portions of the skirt below the lower end 4 of the neck 2 of the tube, causing the spreading out of these portions in order to immobilise the body 6 in the interior of the tube to be plugged. The height of the tubular member 12 above the collar 14 is such that in the position for use the lateral openings 15 are located in the interior of the enlarged portion 7, while its closed portion 13 extends upwardly beyond the body 6 of the stopper.

The third essential part of the stopper is formed by the cap 16, the lower portion of which has an internal screw thread to be screwed on the external screw thread of the neck 2, and this lower portion may have external vertical ribs or flats to facilitate its operation. The upper portion of the cap 16 has an internal cylindrical surface 17 designed to slide in tight contact on the external surface of the enlarged portion 7 of the body 6 of the stopper. The top 18 of the cap has a central circular hole 19 designed to take in very accurately the closed end 13 of the inner tubular member 12. A frusto-conical chamfer 20 may be provided at the bottom of the central hole 19 corresponding to a complementary chamfer 21 of the tubular member 12, to assure a tight closure in the obturated position.

The internal screw thread of the cap 16 is terminated at its lower end by an internal recess 22, which separates this screw thread from an internal annular shoulder 23 protruding towards the interior and having a chamfer 24 on the bottom which facilitates the fitting of the cap, the lower internal surface of which shows also another chamfer 25 above its screw-threaded portion at the bottom of the cylindrical surface 17.

The stopper may be supplemented by a second cap 26 (FIG. 3) designed to crown the upper portion of the screwed cap 16 and to obturate the hole 19, in order to establish a tight additional safety closure in case of storage of particularly volatile products.

In order to assemble the plug, the inner tubular member 12 is firstly inserted incompletely into the'body 6 as shown in FIG. 2, then this assembly is engaged into the interior of the neck 2, after which the tubular memb 12 is pushed down towards the interior. Thus, while the enlarged portion 7 of the body 6 bears on the end face 3 of the neck 2, the base of the tubular member 12 expands the slotted portions of the skirt 8 thus spreading them out below the lower end 4 of the neck 2, while the collar 14 engages itself below the interior bosses 11 of the enlarged portion 7 of the body 6.

The body 6 and the tubular member 12 are then immobilised in the tube 1 as shown in FIG. 1.

Subsequently the cap 16 is fitted, whose annular shoulder 23 expands resiliently to clear the screw thread of the neck 2 of the tube, and finally engages below said screw thread around the smooth portion 5 of the neck 2 which is of a sufficient height to allow the displacement of the cap 16 from the opened position illustrated in FIG. I to the closure position in which the top 13 engages in the hole 19 while the top 18 abuts the upper end face of the body 6.

In the opened position of the cap (FIG. 1) it sufiices to apply pressure on the tube, which is capable of being flattened, in order to expel its contents outwardly through the lateral openings 15 of the tubular member 12 and the hole 19 as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1.

In order to close the stopper it suffices to screw the cap 16 further on, so as make it descend along the neck 2. The top 18 of the cap then bears on the body 6, force fully applying the shoulder at the base of the enlarged portion 7 of the body 6 against the end face 3 of the' neck 2, which assures the practically perfect tightness of the assembly while the closed top 13 of the tubular member 12 is engaged within the hole 19.

It will be understood that the embodiment illustrated in thedrawing'and described hereinabove has no limiting character whatever, and that various modifications of detail may be provided without leaving the scope of the invention. In particular, the bosses 11 could be replaced by a small annular shoulder projecting inwardly, which would play the same part, and the collar 14 could be replaced by separate radial fingers distributed over the circumference of the tube 12 to fulfill the same function. In order to determine the position of the assembly of FIG. 2, other bosses could be provided to form a preliminary abutmentwhich holds the tubular member 12 temporarily above the slotted base of the body before the body has entered the tube 1.

I claim:

1. A stopper for a collapsible receptacle provided with an externally screw-threaded neck, comprising a tubular body of a resilient synthetic plastic material having an enlarged upper portion capable of bearing against the end of said neck and a cylindrical skirt slideably insertable into said neck and ending at its bottom in a portion having an inwardly projecting bore and longitudinal slots for being mounted and expanded within said receptacle below said neck, an inner cylindrical tubular member moulded of a resilient synthetic plastic material which is closed on top, has lateral openings therebeneath and which is capable of being slideably inserted in said skirt expanding the slotted endof said skirt outwardly within said receptacle and beyond said neck, an internally screw-threaded cap of a resilient synthetic plastic material capable of being screwed on said neck and provided at its base with an internal annular shoulder for engaging below the screw thread of said neck and at its upper end with a top having a central hole for receiving the closed top of said inner tubular member when said cap is fully screwed on said neck with said cap top abutting said inner tubular member when said cap is fully screwed into a closed position and said cap having an internal cylindrical surface above 7 its screw thread capable of tightly sliding .m said enlarged upper portion of said tubular body.

2. A stopper as claimed in claim 1, comprising at least one inward projection on the internal surface of said enlarged upper portion of said tubular body and an outward projection integral with said inner tubular member below said inward projection on the internal surface of said tubular body when said inner tubular member is fully inserted in said tubular body.

3. A stopper as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cap has a chamfer at its base and another chamfer below said internal cylindrical surface with said screw thread there between for facilitating the engagement of said cap on said neck.

4. A stopper as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cen tral hole in the top of said cap has an outwardly flaring frusto-conically portion at the bottom, and said inner tubular member has externally a truncated cone configuration below its closed end for engaging into the flared art of said hole when said cap is in its fully closed position.

5. A stopper as claimed in claim 1, wherein said internally screw-threaded cap has an upper part of an external reduced diameter, and a second cap is capable of mating with said upper part of said screw-threaded cap providing an additional seal.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,058,631 10/1962 De La Hitte 222S22 3,113,706 12/1963 \Vickman 222-569 3,073,470 1/1963 Greene 2l5-52 G. T. HALL, Assistant Examiner.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner. 

1. A STOPPER FOR A COLLAPSIBLE RECEPTACLE PROVIDED WITH AN EXTERNALLY SCREW-THREADED NECK, COMPRISING A TUBULAR BODY OF A RESILIENT SYNTHETIC PLASTIC MATERIAL HAVING AN ENLARGED UPPER PORTION CAPABLE OF BEARING AGAINST THE END OF SAID NECK AND A CYLINDRICAL SKIRT SLIDEABLY INSERTABLE INTO SAID NECK AND ENDING AT ITS BOTTOM IN A PORTION HAVING AN INWARDLY PROJECTING BORE AND LONGITUDINAL SLOTS FOR BEING MOUNTED AND EXPANDED WITHIN SAID RECEPTACLE BELOW SAID NECK, AN INNER CYLINDRICAL TUBULAR MEMBER MOULDED OF A RESILIENT SYNTHETIC PLASTIC MATERIAL WHICH IS CLOSED ON TOP, HAS LATERAL OPENINGS THEREBENEATH AND WHICH IS CAPABLE OF BEING SLIDEABLY INSERTED IN SAID SKIRT EXPANDING THE SLOTTED END OF SAID SKIRT OUTWARDLY WITHIN SAID RECEPTACLE AND BEYOND SAID NECK, AN INTERNALLY SCREW-THREADED CAP OF A RESILIENT SYNTHETIC PLASTIC MATERIAL CAPABLE OF BEING SCREWED ON SAID NECK AND PROVIDED AT ITS BASE WITH AN INTERNAL ANNULAR SHOULDER FOR ENGAGING BELOW THE SCREW THREAD OF SAID NECK AND AT ITS UPPER END WITH A TOP HAVING A CENTRAL HOLE FOR RECEIVING THE CLOSED TOP OF SAID INNER TUBULAR MEMBER WHEN SAID CAP IS FULLY SCREWED ON SAID NECK WITH SAID CAP TOP ABUTTING SAID INNER TUBULAR MEMBER WHEN SAID CAP IS FULLY SCREWED INTO A CLOSED POSITION AND SAID CAP HAVING AN INTERNAL CYLINDRICAL SURFACE ABOVE ITS SCREW THREAD CAPABLE OF TIGHTLY SLIDING ON SAID ENLARGED UPPER PORTION OF SAID TUBULAR BODY. 